“Of all the fighter planes in service in North America, nothing is more profitable than Canadian Car and Foundry Chasseur No.1 Huard. More commonly known as Freak or Loony. It's one of the world's most popular fighters, a fighter all pirates love. An elegantly simple wooden bush plane equipped either with wheels or floats, decent armor and four machine guns. It doesn't break down, stall, freeze up and can be repaired by a sixteen years old with a pair of pliers, a hammer and tractor parts. It'll fly whether it's covered in mud, ice or has its air filters filled with sand. It’ll take off from a pond, a plowed field or any leveled piece of real estate. You just need to be gentle with it or you’ll end up in a collision course with the ground .The Quebecers put the plane on a coin, some pirate gangs use it on their flag. Since the end of the North East War, the Loony has become one of Québec’s greatest exports. After that comes wood, aluminum, Jesuit missionaries and crazed mercenaries. "

- Ivan Orlov, Air Action Weekly Denver correspondent.

The Winter War of 30-31 was Québec’s first taste modern were the air force is king. However, the harsh Québec winter is not kind to engines and delicate parts and maintaining a plane airworthy in these conditions is a challenge. The AAQ anticipated that problem before the Winter War realising that it’s few Great War era biplanes and Bandits would not be sufficient to challenge the impressive ROAF. In panic it asked Canadian Car and Foundry (CCF), a Montreal aircraft company to quickly produce a combat aircraft to fill the void. CCF was already producing a sea plane that had the reputation to be able to fly in any conditions, the Malard. By adding armour and machineguns, they created the first Québec combat airplane, the Huard.

Design History: The Malard was a quick and manoeuvrable aircraft. It was popular since it could take off from everywhere and had the agility to execute fancy manoeuvres. The designers were hoping that this agility could be reflected by the converted plane. The designed was simple to execute and at the end of October 1930, the first 20 Huards where deployed. They turned out to be O.K. fighters and the low maintenance needs were appreciated by the skeleton ground crews of the AAQ. However, the plane was not able to reproduce the agility of the Malard, because of the added weight of the armour and the weapons. The small Pratt and Whitney engine also had problem coping up with the added weight. The Huard developed a reputation to get out of control as soon as it is asked to do something unusual. But, the reliability of the plane and its little need for maintenance allowed the AAQ to field aircrafts every day to challenge the RAOF.

The AAQ achieved air superiority during the conflict because of the Huard. They flew in conditions that grounded other fighters. It is a capable fighter; it achieved a 1 to 1 kill ratio despite being flown by pilots with rudimental training. –L

Manufacturer: CCF is still today one of the biggest corporation in Québec. Before the Great War CCF was a producer of steel and of train cars. However, the return of competent pilots and mechanics form Europe allowed for the company to start a small airplane production. After some prototypes, the Malard was the first commercial production in 1935 before it got the contract to build the Huard. But recently, with the Vermont factory affair, CCF has been under the threat of nationalisation by the government. Only a “gift” of several Bell planes and promises of more jobs in the Montréal plant saved the company. However, the “Parti des Patriotes” a radical right-wing movement and Governor Daniel Levesque are still asking for the nationalisation of the company. However, their bestseller remains the Huard, that can be seems everywhere on the continent

With the lack of success of the Héron and the emergence of Bombardier, CCF lost its dominant market position. However, the popularity of the Huard on the private market will allow the company to remain profitable for many years to come..-L

Role and deployment: From front line fighter during the early years of the République, the Huard has now been relegated to second and third line defence. However its ability to land every where and affordable price makes it a plane of choice for the Sureté Républicaine (Québec national police force -L). Operating from bases on small lakes, these pilots are in charge of patrolling Québec’s vast borders. The reliability of the Huard insures that the borders can be patrolled all the time, so the aging airplane should still be a common sight over Québec for many years to come.

Unfortunately the Huard is, for the same reasons, a very popular plane with pirates and bootleggers, since it can operate from almost any location.-L

Pilots and Campaign: Jacob “Bolo” Gros-Louis is one of the most famous Sureté Républiocaine patrolmen. On December 1936 he spotted a Maritime Provinces zeppelin near Rivière-du-Loup. Gros-Louis followed it undetected until he could alert the closest AAQ unit. When the interceptors arrived, Gros-Louis joined the fight and got one kill as the badly damaged zeppelin was turned back. For his action Gros-Louis was awarded the Croix de St-Michel from the hand of Premier Duplessis himself.

The basic shape is that of a scaled down Max Holste Broussard, sometimes described as the French Beaver or like flying a (French) railway carriage. Rumours that the upholstery came pre-impreganted with Gaulois are probably untrue

I've added floats, guns and a small armoured front canopy, the cowling is sized to take an engine the size of a Wasp Junior.There is at least one Broussard fitted with floats (you can see it on You Tube).